


Wizard25

by Finley (pockmarkedplanet)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Gen, Novel, Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 09:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19999519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pockmarkedplanet/pseuds/Finley
Summary: The sequel to my 2014 novel,Wizard24!Abandoned in June 2015.





	1. Prologue

“Fred Benson, do you take Amy Stephens to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do.”

“You may now kiss the bride.”

My first instinct was to cover everyone’s eyes, but I saw no point in doing that. My only concern was that my dad had just married the mom of a boy we had taken in over four months ago, named Shane. It was a hot summer day. My brother Graham, myself, and my dad were all headed to Dallas to go to the American Airlines Center, where the Mavericks, Graham’s favorite sports team, played. We pulled over at a rest stop, where Shane just happened to be laying on a bench. When we found him, he was unconscious, and so we rushed him to the hospital, and Graham was upset. Over time, though, Shane grew on everyone, so we were all glad to get to keep him.

Over the span of the month after we had found Shane, we also took in Brady and Dustin Webb, twin 9-year-old brothers whose mother had been kidnapped. Now, with my dad and Shane’s mom married, our family would expand further to include me, Will, the oldest, my brother Graham, Brady and Dustin, Shane, his brother Chase, and his step-brothers Ben, Mikey, and Mac, whom we had not met yet, but did know the names of.

As tomorrow was the last day of school, we were able to go on a honeymoon vacation, but the location hadn’t been revealed to anyone yet…


	2. Chapter One: In Which Someone Celebrates A Birthday, Part II

December 19, 2014 - 6:55 AM - Arlington, TX - Will’s POV

After the wedding, I had finished packing, then started working on something for Shane’s birthday. I made a survey with several questions about what his favorite birthday had been, what his ideal birthday would be, and more. I was in charge of getting myself and Shane to school, my dad was in charge of Brady, Dustin, and Graham, and Amy, my new stepmom, was in charge of Chase, Ben, Mikey, and Mac, all of whom were still complete strangers to me. I figured we would all get to know each other on the trip…

December 19, 2014 - 7:33 AM - Arlington, TX - Shane’s POV

It was the last day of school, and the only things I had with me were paper, pens, pencils, and a calculator inside my binder. On the drive to school, Will handed me something. Upon opening it, I discovered that it was a survey for my birthday. I thanked him, put it in my binder, and got out, as we had reached the destination: Young Junior High. For the last time in 2014, I walked into math class, opened my binder, and got out the calculator and two pencils, ready to take my final exam.  
A few exams later, I finally got to read the survey, going through it quickly. Favorite cake flavor? Chocolate. Ideal place for a birthday party? Alley Cats. Favorite birthday you’ve had? This one made me think. My favorite birthday was probably when I turned five, but at the same time, that brought back some bad memories of my father. But every birthday brought back memories of my dad, who on every birthday acted nice, but really, he was always drunk and he liked hitting people, sometimes my mom, sometimes us. He was the biological father of me and Chase with my mom, Ben and Mikey with another woman, and Mac with yet another. My mom had gotten custody of all five of us after my dad was imprisoned. I hadn’t had much interaction with Ben, Mikey, or Mac, but I did know a little background info about them. As I previously said, I knew that all three were my half-brothers, and that Ben and Mikey had the same mother. My mom had also told me that all four of them, Chase included, were attending my old school, Episcopal School of Dallas. I knew that Ben was the same age as Chase, and that Mikey and Mac were a few years younger, around 6 or 7 years old.  
Will picked me up from school as usual, and we immediately loaded up to go to the airport. We all fit in two cars - Will’s truck would stay home - and so we divided up, Mr. Benson driving me, Chase, Brady and Dustin and my mom driving Will, Graham, Ben, Mikey, and Mac in her minivan. On the ride there, I talked to Chase, asking him what his reaction had been after I hadn’t come home that one day. He told me that he had been scared, but our mom had helped calm him down. He was still eagerly anticipating getting guitar lessons from me, though, and I told him I would be sure to teach him as soon as I got some practice, as I had forgotten some of the stuff over my four-month hiatus from playing (my guitar had been at my mom’s house, obviously).  
We got into the airport, and we went to the check-in counter. Each of us was allowed to take a backpack with us, with all our clothes and anything else we might need in it. As such, we had no need to check any bags. We went through security, which went well, then went to find our gate, D15. Since the security entrance was right there, we didn’t have to go very far. Besides, everyone was hungry, so we went into Fuddruckers a few gates down for burgers. After eating, we went and sat down by the gate. Mr. Benson - er, Dad - laid out a map and highlighted our seats. We were flying economy class in the Airbus 380, and we had all ten seats in row 77, and one up in row 76. Ben, Mikey, and Mac picked the three seats on the right side. Our parents took the seats at either end of the middle section. Brady and Dustin picked the two seats between them, leaving the other four seats for me, Chase, Will, and Graham. Will decided he would sit alone, and I took the window seat on the left side. The flight would be seventeen hours, so there were food options, including a snack bar. I figured everyone would be sleeping a little, and I was right. In fact, once we got to cruising in the air, almost everyone nodded off right away, including me.  
By the time I woke up it was ten in the evening (Texas time, that is). I got up, got a snack, went to the bathroom, and sat back down to go to sleep again. This time, everyone had fallen asleep, and the next time I woke up, we were about to land. It was 8:45 in the morning in Texas, but by the time we got off the plane, it would be Saturday, and there was something very special about Saturday…

December 20, 2014 - 12:04 AM - Sydney, AUS - Will’s POV

The plane landed safely, and once we parked the plane, the seatbelt sign was turned off, and I immediately popped up to stretch. “Ow!” I yelled as I hit my head on the overhead storage bin. We only had carry-on backpacks, so we had no need to go to the baggage claim. It was shortly after midnight, and after leaving the terminal, we went to get our rental car. We had somehow managed to get a van for rental. We also lucked out and got a black van, not a suspicious white one. Loading everything, including ourselves, into the big van, we headed off to where we were staying, a bed and breakfast. We had lucked out again, and got a suite in the bed and breakfast with enough room for all eleven of us to fit. It was quite a large room - there were five bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen as well as two bathrooms. We all gathered in the living room to claim our spots. Mac immediately called the couch in that room. Graham and I picked one room, Shane and Chase took another, Ben and Mikey called dibs on the furthest one from the door, Brady and Dustin took the first bedroom on the left side of the hallway, and our parents took the one next door to them. It was really early, so there was no point in doing anything. Besides, we were all still a little jet-lagged, so we just decided to get some sleep and wake up at a normal hour.  
I woke up at 7:45, and tiptoed out to check if anyone else was up. No one was, so I went out for a nice walk. I didn’t usually go for a walk in the mornings, but I didn’t know how our schedule would be, and it was really nice out. After I got back from my walk, I quietly went back into the room I was sharing with Graham, and got some clothes to change into as well as my toiletries. I took a nice shower, then changed into the gray T-shirt and jeans I had picked out. I then went back into the room and picked up the book I had been reading, Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I had barely started it, but needed to read the whole thing by the first day of the second semester, which was January 7th, a Wednesday, for us this year. I was only able to read a couple pages, though, because Brady came into my room with a worried look on his face. “Will, can you help me, please?” he asked. “Of course, what’s the matter?” I responded. “My arm just started bleeding,” he informed me. I looked at both his arms and sure enough, his left arm was bleeding. “Did you pick at something, like a scab, on your arm?” I asked. “Well, yeah…” “That’s why it’s bleeding. Let’s go get you a Band-Aid,” I said, taking him by the hand and leading him into the restroom, where a miniature first aid kit was located. I reached in and got a bandage, and applied it to Brady’s arm. “Thanks,” he said as he walked - rather, waddled, like a penguin - back to his room. I couldn’t help but laugh. Brady turned around with a huge grin on his face. “What?” he asked. “Just that you make a good penguin,” I said, and he continued back to his room. When I walked back to my room, Graham had woken up, and was getting dressed, putting on his blue Mavericks jersey and matching basketball shorts. Brady and Dustin came out next, with Brady wearing a black tank top and silver basketball shorts, and Dustin dressed nicely in a white polo and jeans. Everyone else slowly got up, and by 9 o’clock, everyone had woken up and gotten dressed. We all went to the dining room together for breakfast, where we were served eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and…baked beans? We were told this was a common breakfast in Australia, so I shrugged and dug in. Everyone enjoyed it, as it was similar to what we would normally have, but with a little native twist, which was cool. After breakfast, we went back to the suite, and gathered in the living room. We sang “Happy Birthday”, then our parents asked Shane what he wanted to do, since it was his birthday. He took his time, saying he would need a little while to think. “Can I have some options?” he asked, and he was given a list of possible things to do. “I’ll need a few minutes or so to look at this list, so you can all go ahead and get ready or whatever else you might need to do,” he said. Everyone went and brushed their teeth, and Shane still hadn’t decided. Finally, he got up…but it was just to go brush his teeth. After he got back, he announced that he had made his decision. “I want to go to…the zoo,” he said. We all loaded into the van, and headed off toward the Sydney Zoo - or, rather, the Taronga Zoo. We went to see every single animal in the zoo, from the koalas near the entrance to the “normal” stuff like birds to everything else. I had never seen many of these animals, like the Komodo Dragon, Bongo, or Brazilian Tapir, so it was cool to see those, and it was also cool to see some of the more native animals in person, like wallabies, wombats, and kangaroos. We left before noon, and went to get some lunch. Australia was a very multicultural place, with all sorts of dining options. We ended up going to Burger Shed. It was what it sounds like - a place where one could get burgers, fries, and milkshakes. Everyone got the exact same thing - a “classic” burger, a small order of fries, and a small milkshake of the flavor of their choice. We all thought it was good, and then after eating, we went back to the bed and breakfast. We were all fairly tired, but Shane wanted one more thing. “Do you know if there are any game arcades around here?” he asked. “Sorry to disappoint you, but the answer is no, there aren’t any close ones,” my dad said after looking for a few minutes. “Oh, okay. Thanks for checking, anyways.”  
The bed and breakfast had a tennis court, and I got Shane, Ben, and Dustin to join me for a game, and Brady tagged along to watch. We had a lot of fun out there, even if we didn’t all have the most experience playing. Shane and Ben were clearly better than us, but no one wanted to keep score; we were simply playing for fun, and succeeded in that quest. After playing, we all went back into the suite, and got cleaned up. Shane followed me into my room, and he said he wanted to read my book, so I let him do so while I got a little extra rest. Shane, who was apparently a speed-reader, somehow finished the entire novel in just over two hours, and at 2:55 he woke me up. “Hey, we’re going to get some ice cream, wanna come?” I agreed to go, and he told me on the ride over that he had finished the book, and thought I would like it. After we went to get ice cream and came back, I only had to read a few pages to know that Shane had been right. The book was good, and I had time to read three and a half chapters before it was time to go to dinner. For dinner, we went out again, heading north until we found something we wanted, which turned out to be a Subway. Everyone but Mac, Graham, our parents and I got milk to drink; Graham and our parents got sweet tea, I got root beer, and Mac got Coca-Cola. Everyone pretty much got the same thing: our parents, Ben, and I all got footlong ham sandwiches; Chase, Shane, and Graham got 6-inch turkey sandwiches; Brady, Dustin and Mikey got kids’ meals; and Mac got a 6-inch chicken breast sandwich (I think it was mostly so he could say “breast”). We all took our time eating, then headed back to the bed and breakfast since we were all pretty tired from walking around the zoo and playing tennis and whatnot. We put slips of paper with numbers from 1 to 11 in my blue Rangers baseball cap, and drew slips, in order (youngest to oldest), until we had drawn them all. The numbers represented our spot in line to get bathroom access for showers, baths, toothbrushing, and whatever else needed to be done to get ready.  
Mac went first, and took his bath quickly, brushed his teeth, put on some boxers, and came out, immediately sprawling out on the couch. Mikey was next; his bath took longer, and after he brushed his teeth and put on his sports pajamas, he came out and walked into the room he was sharing with the next guy in line, Ben, who showered quickly, brushed his teeth, and walked out of the bathroom with red lounge pants that were low enough to show a bit of his blue underwear. He went back to his room. Graham was next, and he showered, brushed his teeth, and came out in red boxer briefs, which reminded me of the time that we all joked about “national don’t wear clothes day”, which was also the first day Shane had been home with us. That brought back a lot of memories, and I had to sit down on one of the chairs in the living room to stop from breaking down and crying. My dad was next, and he went into and came out of the bathroom quickly, having showered, brushed his teeth, and put on his “pajamas”, a white T-shirt and black pajama pants. I went next, and showered quickly, brushed my teeth, and put on first a pair of boxers, then my red lounge pants, and went into my room, where Graham was reading a comic book. I set down my dirty clothes and my bag of toiletries (toothpaste, deodorant, etc.), got my book, and went out to the living room, pulling a chair so that I could read, but also keep an eye on the line. Shane went after me, and he came out in his football pajamas; his brother Chase followed him, and came out in guitar pajamas; Dustin went next, coming out in blue pajamas that had a solid blue shirt, and plaid blue pants; his brother Brady went next, walking out of the bathroom and towards me, not his room, in camo boxer briefs; I discovered that he just wanted to give me a hug before heading off to bed. I put my bookmark in the book, set it down, and hugged him back. I was convinced that Brady was quite possibly the sweetest kid on earth. My (step)mom went last, and she went into the room where my dad already was. I got up, moved the chair back into place, and went into my room. Graham had put a bookmark in his comic book and was now trying to get comfortable in bed; I set Lord of the Flies on the nightstand and climbed into bed as well, and waited for our parents to come say good-night. Dad came in first, and tucked Graham in, said good-night, and left. Mom came in next, and said good-night, turned off the lights, and closed the door. I assume they did the same in each of the rooms. All I know is that I got a great night of sleep.  
I woke up early again, around 6:50, and got dressed to go for another walk. As I walked toward the back door to go for my walk, Brady and Dustin saw me walk past, and told me to wait for them. They got dressed - both in blue T-shirts and white basketball shorts - and headed outside with me. It was extremely nice out again, and we just kinda wandered around the place, soaking in the nice weather. “We should do this more often,” Dustin said. “Yeah, we can go to the lake at home, too!” Brady yelled excitedly. “Sorry…” “Maybe we will,” I said as I led them back inside. Everyone was up by that point, and we all went down to breakfast together. We were served “hotcakes” and fruit salad, which were both delicious. Today, we were going to the famous Sydney Opera House for a tour, then just go explore the city. Everyone brushed their teeth, then we all loaded into the van to drive to the Opera House. Our tour was kinda long, but I learned some interesting facts. Mac looked so bored that I thought he was going to cause a scene so we would get kicked out and he wouldn’t have to take another minute of it, but he restrained himself, and I rewarded him by letting him play games on my phone for the ride into town. We went to a shopping mall in town, called the Strand Arcade. It was a rather sizable mall. The first store we stopped in was called “Seed”, which was a clothing store, though they did have some toys as well. We all spent some time looking around, especially the younger ones like Mikey, Brady and Dustin. It was the most interesting of all the stores we went in - which were mostly clothing stores - but somehow we managed not to buy anything. After a while, we were all hungry, and decided to leave the mall and go find some lunch. There wasn’t much to eat inside the mall, not even a food court, so we had to leave altogether. We ended up going to Prime Steak Restaurant, which was, as may be obvious, a steakhouse. We all ate up there, knowing we would probably end up at a fast-food place for dinner after a big meal like this one. Dad and I each had porterhouse steaks to ourselves, Mom, Ben, Shane and the twins got strip steaks, and Chase, Brady, Dustin, Mikey and Mac split two sirloin steaks five ways. It was quite delicious, but left all of us full and ready to go back to the bed and breakfast, which we did. As soon as we walked into our room, Mac stripped down to his boxers, flopped down on the couch, pulled a blanket over himself, and put in his earbuds. Everyone else went into their rooms, except our parents, who stayed out in the living room and turned on the TV, channel-surfing for something to watch. Graham and I had just gotten settled when Chase came into the room. He was wearing a yellow Under Armour T-shirt, jeans, and had on black sleeves under the T-shirt. “What’s up?” I asked him. “I got kicked out,” he said jokingly. “Kicked out? By Shane?” “Yeah, he said he wanted to practice his guitar alone,” Chase replied. “That makes a little more sense now. Do you want to do something or just kinda hang out in here?” “I’m good. I’ll just hang out and listen to some music,” he said as he fished around in his pockets for his iPod. He finally found it, and put in his earbuds. I got out my phone, put in one earbud, and half-listened to music while I tried to read some more of Lord of the Flies. I read through the end of chapter six, then put the bookmark back in and set the novel back on the nightstand, glad that I had gotten half of the reading done, glad that the book was actually quite good, glad that everyone was having fun on the trip…  
“Will?” I was shook awake by my little brother. “It’s, uh, time to go to dinner,” he said. “How long was I asleep?” I asked him, taking the earbud out of my right ear, where it had been since I started reading/listening several hours ago. “Uh…a couple hours, actually. It’s 6:47,” he said as he looked up from his watch. “Whoa,” I exclaimed as I rubbed my eyes and staggered out of bed. We all gathered in the living room. “Where should we go? There’s the Subway we ended up at last night, several McDonald’s locations, a KFC somewhere around here to the west…” We took a vote, and decided to go to McDonald’s. Everyone piled up into the van, and we headed off toward the closest of the many Mickey D’s, where we were all allowed to get one or two things off the dollar menu, plus a drink. Most people just got burgers and fries, but Shane and I both got fish sandwiches, and Ben, Mikey and Chase shared a 20-piece McNuggets meal. After we wolfed it all down, we loaded back up and went back to the bed and breakfast, where we repeated the process of drawing for spots in the shower line. This time, Dad turned the news on, and some of us kids sorta half-watched that while we were waiting in line. Dad went first, then came back in his T-shirt and PJ pants to sit and watch the news. Dustin followed him, and when he was done, he went to his room, got a book, and came back out to sit on the other couch and read; Mom followed, and she came out and watched the news with Dad. Ben went after that, and today his pants were sagging so low that you could see his butt crack; Mikey and Mac busted a gut laughing at that, and to my surprise, neither Mom nor Dad seemed to care, even though they could clearly see that he looked kinda like a skinny Rick Ross, or one of those rappers that always leaves a ton of their underwear exposed when they go shirtless. I was up next, and I tried to get ready as quickly as I could, showering and brushing my teeth enough to get the job done, but not lingering in the warm shower any longer than I needed to, so the next one in line could take their turn. I pulled on some boxers and my lounge pants, and walked back to my room to set down all my stuff, then went into the living room to try and watch some of the news. Ben had pulled his pants up, so just the Hanes waistband was showing now. Chase showered after me, and he went straight back to his room after getting ready. Mikey trotted in after him, and he came out to chill on the couch in the blue shirt and gray pants that made up his sports-themed pajama set. He wasn’t really watching the TV, but he found that Brady was drawing something on his sketchpad, and went over to check that out. Shane went after his half-brother, coming out and going into his room in the same football pajamas we had bought when Shane was just starting to live with us, back when it was just Dad, Graham and I. Mac sauntered into the bathroom next, and came out, reclaiming the couch he slept on. Graham went next, and I heard a loud crashing noise while he was taking his shower. When he came out of the bathroom, he hobbled off into our room. Brady rounded out the bathroom rotation, setting down his sketchpad long enough to take a quick shower, brush his teeth, and put on another pair of camouflage-patterned boxer briefs. When he finished, I went over, turned the light off in the bathroom, and went into the room to check on Graham. He was laying on his bed and screaming into a pillow. “Hey, you okay?” I asked. “N-no, my leg…” I pointed at his left leg. “No, the other one…Ow, yeah…” he said as I brushed his right leg. “Well, what happened?” “I, uh, was taking my shower, and I slipped in the wet tub, and banged my leg pretty bad on the side of it,” he explained. That explains the crashing noise, I thought. “Do you think you just need to rest it overnight, or do you think we should take you to the hospital?” I asked. Graham shrugged. “I mean, I don’t want to make a big deal of it if it’s just a little bruise, but I think it might be a good idea to go to the hospital,” he said. I went into the living room and explained the situation to my parents, who both agreed that we should load up the van and go to the hospital. Dad and I went around and rounded up the troops, while Mom waited in the living room to explain the situation to everyone. Dad picked up Graham and carried him out to the van, and we all walked out in the dark, hoping that it wasn’t too serious. Shane and I sat with Graham in the back row of the van, with Graham’s head in Shane’s lap and his legs on my lap. We drove to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where Graham was admitted into the emergency room. They ran a few tests, and reported back to us that it was merely a bad bruise that would probably heal overnight. We thanked the doctors, nurses and everyone that had helped, paid, and went back to the B&B. Everyone went back to their rooms and got settled into bed again, and our parents repeated the process of tucking everyone in and saying goodnight and all. I went over to Graham’s bed, knelt and said prayers for the both of us, then got in bed and drifted off. I had this one song, “Wasted Love” by Matt McAndrew, which was from my favorite show, The Voice, stuck in my head all night, and I plugged in my headphones and listened to it as soon as I woke up the next morning.  
I woke up at 7:05 and got dressed, swapping out my red lounge pants for a nice pair of jeans and putting on a solid green T-shirt, a pair Hanes crew socks and my white and red Nike sneakers. I skipped going for a walk today, since we were leaving pretty early after we ate. Graham woke up and while he was a little tired, he said his leg felt fine. We had hotcakes and porridge today for breakfast, and after we went back to the room, and everyone had brushed their teeth, Dad told everyone to get their swim stuff on, because we were heading out to Manly Beach for the whole day. Everyone went to get their stuff, and we went in the same order as we had last night.  
Dad went first, and changed into long red boardshorts, putting on a blue T-shirt and sneakers “for the ride over”. Dustin went next; he had on blue boardshorts and brown Crocs when he came out. Mom went after that, and came out in a black one-piece swimsuit. Ben went next, and changed into red boardshorts and red flip-flops, though his Hanes underwear was still on underneath the baggy shorts. I went after him, changing out of everything and putting on red and black boardshorts and green flip-flops. Chase went in after me to change into his neon yellow swim trunks and swim shirt; he also put on a pair of brown sandals. Mikey galloped into the restroom next, putting on orange boardshorts over his white briefs and also putting on a pair of orange Crocs. Shane then changed into his blue swim trunks, the ones with sharks on them, green flip-flops and the white tank top he had gotten from Yates a few months ago, when they had been playing catch and he had left it there. Mac didn’t change, since he said he usually swam in basketball shorts; he did change out his Adidas sneakers for a black pair of Crocs. Next, Graham went into the restroom, and changed into blue boardshorts and blue flip-flops. Finally, with an ear-to-ear grin on his face, Brady skipped happily into the bathroom, and when he had changed into orange boardshorts and matching orange Crocs, we loaded up and drove off to the beach.  
We got there, and went over to the Manly Beach, but since it was too crowded, we walked up a bit to North Steyne Beach. It was even better than the other area because there was a playground right there, a beach volleyball court, and less people. Mom pulled out a bag with various containers of sunscreens, and Dad got out a bag of beach towels for everyone to have. He and Mom sat theirs on the sandy area, since they were just going to sunbathe. Brady, Chase, Mikey and Graham were the first group of us to get in the water. Ben, Shane and I decided to check out the beach volleyball area, and we joined a game that was in progress, but needed players. Dustin got out a bucket and started making a sand castle, and Mac paced back and forth for a while before deciding to jump in the water. I could see Brady, Mikey and Graham swimming laps, each trying to beat the other two; Chase was just kinda paddling around, and Mac was doing the same, but in the opposite direction. We didn’t keep score of the volleyball game, the group of people that had been there before was also just trying to have fun, and so were we, so we just kinda hit the ball back and forth. Eventually, they left, and we left with them, going over to the beach to swim. Meanwhile, Chase went over to help Dustin with his sand castle, and Mac managed to get kicked out of the swim area for roughhousing too much. The rest of us - Brady, Mikey, Graham, Ben, Shane and I - decided to have a big race. The first one who could touch the border between North Steyne and Manly beaches and get back to the original starting line would win. “On your marks…get set…go!” I called as I took off, stroking as powerfully as I could, but we were all hopeless against Brady, who beat us handily. I got second, and Shane got third. Ben and Mikey both got out of the water, and claimed that they wanted snacks, which got all of us out of the water. We each got a dollar from Dad to spend at the little store they had. I just got a bottle of water, while Brady, Mikey and Ben got chocolate bars. Shane got a bag of Skittles, and Graham got a thing of Sour Patch Kids. We all went over to the picnic tables and sat down to eat. Chase, Dustin, and Mac joined us soon thereafter: Mac with a chocolate bar, Dustin with Reese’s Pieces, and Chase with M&M’s. Everyone gulped down what they had as rapidly as they could, so they could get back in the water sooner, but our parents made us wait half an hour until going back in to swim again. Dustin, Brady and Chase decided to sit down and work some more on Dustin’s sand castle, and by the time thirty minutes had passed, everyone was chipping in to help in some way - Graham and I were in charge of getting sand, for example, while Mac was just told to stay out of the way. We finished the sand castle, and immediately all nine of us sprinted and dove into the water. Then the battle started. It started harmlessly, as Mikey innocently splashed me with some water. But then Mac, Ben and Chase joined in and started splashing me, and Shane, Brady and Dustin joined me in splashing them back. It somehow turned into a full-scale splashing war. And then something got taken the wrong way, and Mac got angry, and sucker-punched Brady in the stomach. Ben and I quickly jumped in to calm them both down, but it was time to leave anyways. As we walked back to the parking lot to get back in the van, Ben’s shorts suddenly fell down, and he blushed in embarrassment as he bent down to pull them back up. “Glad I was wearing underwear,” he said to me as I climbed over him to get in the back of the van. We drove back into Sydney, and went to a McDonald’s again for dinner; having skipped lunch, all of us were hungry, and we were allowed to get whatever we wanted this time. We went through the drive-thru, and parked and ate in the parking lot, then went back to the B&B. The second we walked in, Mom threw down a couple towels on each couch, and immediately several of us sat down - Brady and Dustin on one couch, water dripping down their backs; Mac on “his” couch, taking off everything but his boxers again; and on the other couch, Graham sat by himself, while Mikey peeled off his wet shorts and sat on Ben’s lap. After everyone had dried off a bit, we drew numbers again to shower; while it was a little early, Mom and Dad said they weren’t going to make us go to bed yet, but they figured everyone wanted to get cleaned up and dressed. Brady got number 1, with me drawing the spot right behind him; everyone filed into their rooms to grab whatever they were going to wear to bed, be it pajamas or underwear or whatever else. Brady took his shower, and waddled to his room, leaving me the bathroom. I showered, brushed my teeth, put on Dove deodorant, and put on my customary boxers and lounge pants, going back out to the living room to watch the television. Shane was next, and he showered and came out to watch TV in his pajamas. Ben showered, and while I expected his pants to be down at his ankles tonight, they were again just showing the waistband of his Hanes underwear. Dustin went in, showered, and came out in his pajamas, but then went back to his room upon seeing that his brother wasn’t out there. Chase followed him in line, and went back to his room in his red guitar pajamas. Mom went next, and went back to her room in her pajamas. Mikey was next, and he put on his pajamas and went back to his room; Ben went back with him, leaving Shane, Dad, Mac and I alone while Graham showered. Graham finished, and came out to the living room to watch TV, wearing just his underwear as usual; Dad went next, and went into the bedroom when he was done; and Mac finished, going last, and coming back to lay on the couch in his boxers, as always.  
The TV show we were watching ended, and Graham and I went back into our room; Shane went back to his room also, leaving Mac alone with the TV on in the living room. I started packing, since we were flying back tomorrow afternoon. Reserving a pair of jeans, socks, and a gray T-shirt, I stuffed all my other clothes into my backpack. The only other things I had with me were my phone charger, earbuds and a book, Lord of the Flies, which I had been reading on and off throughout the trip. I also tossed my deodorant into the backpack, since I wouldn’t need to reapply until we got home. I did keep my toothbrush and toothpaste out, because I would need to brush my teeth the next morning. After packing, I helped Graham pack, then read a chapter of the book, and fell asleep around 9:10.

December 23, 2014 - 7:45 AM - Sydney, AUS - Shane’s POV

I woke up feeling refreshed from a good night’s sleep. Having packed the night before, I had nothing else to do, so I got out a book from my backpack - a book called Walk Two Moons - that we had to read for English, and started reading. Once everyone started waking up, I finished the first chapter, put my bookmark in, and got dressed, putting on the white T-shirt and jeans I had laid out for myself the night before. I put on my socks and shoes, and went out to the living room to wait for everyone else to get ready to go eat breakfast. My half-brother Mac woke up and got dressed, then people slowly started joining us - first Will, then Mom, then Dad, and so on until we were all there - and we went to breakfast. Breakfast was the same as our first day, with eggs, sausage, bacon, toast and baked beans. While we ate, we discussed various topics. The conversation started with Mr. Benson telling us the itinerary for the day. We planned to leave at 10:45, so we could get to the airport early, well before our 2:20 flight back to DFW. The discussion then shifted from the itinerary to an odd, but interesting discussion about tattoos. The discussion was likely caused by a combination of two factors: my little brother Chase had on tattoo sleeves under his black T-shirt, and Brady Webb had been drawing tattoo designs in his sketchbook all trip long. Mr. Benson asked each of us if we would ever want to have a real tattoo, and we answered in order from oldest to youngest. Both Mr. Benson and my mom said they wouldn’t, and hadn’t even thought of it growing up, either. Will also said no, but I bucked the trend. “I don’t know yet, but I think I might like to get tattoos when I grow up,” I said proudly. Chase went next, and of course he said yes. Graham, Will’s little brother, said he didn’t think he would want one either. Ben said he wasn’t sure. Brady said he would probably want to get “inked”, but Dustin said that while he liked temporary tattoos, he didn’t think he would want a permanent one. Mikey and Mac weren’t sure whether they would or wouldn’t want tattoos, and that ended that discussion. I thought it was an interesting topic to bring up, and I was glad I had answered honestly. Then, the conversation shifted again to what sports we wanted to play this year. We went in the same order. “Well, we’ve started basketball, this is my first season playing since YMCA ball in fourth grade, and of course I’ll play baseball in the winter,” Will said. “I’m also playing basketball and baseball,” I said. Chase said he wasn’t sure, but might go out for baseball in the winter or play YMCA soccer in the summer. Graham, Brady, and Dustin were all playing soccer, and were on the same team. They all wanted to play baseball as well. Ben wanted to play baseball and basketball, but since the latter season had started already, it was too late for him to join the team, and he would have to play over the summer. Mikey said he would like to play a lot of sports, maybe basketball, or baseball, or soccer, or even hockey. Mac said he didn’t want to play anything but video games, and when the discussion ended, we went back to our room to brush our teeth and finish packing and all that good stuff.  
When everyone had packed their backpacks and we had gone and double-checked every room to be sure we weren’t leaving anything behind, we went to check out at the front desk. We all thanked our hosts for letting us stay there and for making us tasty breakfasts, and then we loaded up in the van for the last time and headed back to the airport. After dropping the van off at the car return place, we all went into the airport. We went down to our gate and waited. Me, Will, Chase, and Mom got out books to read, Brady got out his sketchbook and started drawing again while Dustin, Mikey and Ben watched, and Graham and Mac each listened to music. Mr. Benson got out his iPad and started playing with it or doing work or something. We were there long enough that I was able to almost finish the book, with just one chapter left to read on the plane. We boarded the plane, another Airbus 380, with the same arrangement. I felt bad for Will, who had to sit a row ahead of all of us, and was sitting next to a bunch of strangers, but he didn’t seem to mind. After I finished reading Walk Two Moons, I got out my iPod touch and my Bose headphones, and started listening to music. I had a playlist that was entirely made up of classic rock, from Jimi Hendrix to the Beatles, and I put that on shuffle mode. About three hours into the flight, I got up and went back to the snack bar, and got a bag of trail mix. After I ate that, I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was like we had time-traveled. Because the 17-hour flight and 17-hour time difference canceled each other out, it was 2:20 PM when we landed, the same time we had taken off from Sydney. We didn’t have to go to baggage claim, since all we had were our carry-on backpacks, so we went straight to our cars. Mr. Benson drove Ben, Mikey, Mac and Will home, while Mom drove me, Chase, Graham, Brady and Dustin. We all met at the Bensons’ house, a house that had become my home over the past few months, but that I thought might be too small to fit all eleven of us. When we got home, everyone got their stuff out of the car and Mr. Benson called a family meeting in the living room.  
“So, here are our options. We can stay here, in this house. It’s going to be a little tight, but I think that if we can get everyone paired up, two to a room, and someone is willing to sleep on the couch, we can make do with this house. There’s our bedroom upstairs, Graham’s room, Will’s room, the guest bedroom, the giant closet I’ve never used…” We heard the doorbell ring. I went to get the door, and to everyone’s surprise, Mrs. Webb was standing there. “Good afternoon,” she said. Upon hearing her voice, Brady and Dustin sprinted from the living room to see if it was really their mom standing there. It was. “Hello, boys. Did you miss me?” “Y-yeah…w-we thought you were…gone…” said a trembling Brady, not sure if he was seeing a ghost or what was going on. “No, the men that took me were driving me to the airport; I had to go on a business trip, but I had forgotten about it, and they were trying to get me to the airport as quickly as possible.” “Oh,” Dustin said. “So, uh, we don’t have to live with these guys forever?” “No, although I don’t think that would be a problem. Did they take care of you boys?” “Yeah, we had a lot of fun with them. We even got to go to Australia!” “Australia?” “Yes, that’s where we went for our honeymoon,” said my mom. Now everyone was gathered together in the front area of the house. I told Ben to go get the boys’ stuff, and he obliged, coming back and handing each boy their backpack. “Now, I imagine I may need a baby-sitter for these two sometime soon…I hope you will be happy to help?” Mrs. Webb asked Will, who said yes, of course he would like to watch the boys. They left, and we all said good-bye, and went back to the living room. “So now we only have nine of us to squeeze into these rooms,” Mr. Benson said. Will said he would be willing to share his room with me and Chase, and Mikey and Ben wanted to sleep in what had been the guest bedroom. Mac, of course, wanted to sleep on the couch, and we agreed that would be fine, and that was that. Mom said we should go and get all our stuff from the old house, since she was going to be selling it, and since we were all moving into the Bensons’ house, so me, Chase, Ben, Mikey and Mac all loaded up in her minivan, a blue Honda Odyssey, and drove to Dallas to get all our stuff. Having bought new stuff, I thought it might be nice to donate some of my clothes to charity. When we got home, I packed all my old clothes and stuff in a big suitcase, then put my guitar in its case, and asked my mom if I could run down and say good-bye to Bryan. She said yes, and I walked down to his house. I rang the doorbell. “Holy sh- Holy cow! You’re alive?” Bryan asked me as he opened the door. “Yes, I’m alive, but I’m moving. My mom just got married, and we’re all moving in with them - me and Chase, and my half-brothers, Ben, Mikey and Mac - we’re all going to live in Arlington now, so I thought it would be good to say good-bye before I left. So, uh, good-bye. It was nice having you as a friend,” I said. “Good-bye,” he said, and I left and went back to my old house, presumably for the last time. Picking up my two bags - one with my clothes and stuff in it, the other being the case I kept my guitar in - along with my guitar stand, I walked out to the minivan, put everything in the spacious trunk, and climbed into the front passenger seat. I had been riding up front since I was four or five years old, even though the safety warning said you wait to wait until you turned 13. Since my mom was usually overprotective, it surprised me that she had never objected to my desire to sit in the front. Everyone loaded their stuff, and themselves, into the van, and we headed back to our new home, making one quick stop to drop off the bags full of old ESD uniforms that none of us would be needing any longer, since I had already moved schools and the others would follow suit over the break. We got home, and had a little bit of time to get all our stuff sorted out before dinner. Mr. Benson made us all his signature grilled cheese, which I enjoyed very much, as did everyone else. We all just hung out around the house until it was time to get ready for bed, which ranged from 8 o’clock for Mikey and Mac to 8:30 for me, Chase, Graham and Ben to 9:30 for Will and 10 o’clock for our parents. Before this whole thing, when it was just me, and Mom, and Chase, I usually just slept in my boxer briefs, but since the Bensons had taken me in, I had gotten used to wearing pajamas, and after showering, I put my football pajamas on, and went into Will’s room. Chase had set up his sleeping bag on the floor, but I checked to make sure that he didn’t want to sleep on the bottom bunk, where I had slept for the past four months, but he didn’t, and so I climbed into the bottom bunk, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.


	3. Chapter Two: In Which The Family Settles In/In Which I Start And End Both Subtitles With In

December 24, 2014 - 7:16 AM - Arlington, TX - Graham’s POV

I rose from my bed and stretched. Doing a little dance to help wake myself up, I got dressed, putting on my white Monta Ellis jersey and white basketball shorts over the olive-green boxer briefs I had slept in the night before. I continued to hop and skip around the room gleefully as I put on a pair of ankle socks. I skipped toward the door, with my head down, and bumped into something. Or, actually, someone. I hadn’t known it, but Ben had been watching me the whole time. “Well, you certainly seem to be in a good mood,” he observed. I laughed. “You could say that,” I said. “I just did,” he said, raising an eyebrow - his right - then bursting out in laughter, myself doing the same as we hopped down the stairs, both of us taking them two at a time. Will was already downstairs, making waffles; when he saw us come down the stairs and into the kitchen, he got two more ready to cook. My brother was like a machine; when a waffle would finish toasting, he would swipe it onto a plate and put a new one in. Finally, everybody came downstairs, and we all ate our waffles - which were quite yummy - and did other morning things; my dad and Will read the newspaper, and everyone else got ready for the day, brushing our teeth and combing our hair and doing whatever else. Ben and I went outside; Shane and Chase stayed inside to work on the guitar, and Mikey eventually ended up tagging along with us. Mac, of course, got right to work, playing some video game on his Nintendo 3DS. We started just playing catch, which turned into “monkey in the middle” - with poor Mikey being the monkey, we could easily throw the ball over his outstretched arms, and we did, until I finally had some sympathy and “accidentally” underthrew a ball that Mikey managed to nab with his right hand; his left hand could not catch the ball, as its pointer finger was jammed up Mikey’s nose. Mikey then ate his booger, and lobbed the ball over my head to Ben. The ball bounced around a bit, and because I chased after it, Ben was able to pick it up and easily complete a pass back to Mikey. We were all starting to get settled in; Dad, Will, Shane and I had just gotten a little out of rhythm between the trip and the new family members, while everyone else was just getting used to the house itself. The game continued, all three of us eventually getting a chance to be both a passer and the “monkey”. After a little while, Will came out and told us that our parents had gone to get a Christmas tree and to get some presents for us (it was Christmas Eve, after all), and he joined the game. We decided to just make it a four-person game of catch. Around lunchtime, our parents still weren’t back, and Will made everyone peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Shane got out his Wii U, and hooked it up to the big TV in the living room, and he challenged everyone to some Mario Kart. Mac was quick to join the game, taking Wario as his character; Chase joined as Mario, I joined as Yoshi, and of course Shane was playing, as Bowser, and we picked our carts - karts, rather - and chose to play on four random courses, and we started the “grand prix”.  
In the first race, I exploded at the start, with a major burst of speed, but my lead was short-lived; Chase hit me with a green shell, allowing him to speed ahead of me, but his lead was also short-lived, as Shane plowed into him and wiped both himself and Chase out, allowing me to regain the lead. After one lap, Mac and I were neck and neck, Shane was on our tails, and Chase was a ways back. But I got hit with two nasty power-ups, a blue shell and a bolt of lightning, and dropped back to last place. The second lap was back and forth between Shane and Mac, but Shane got a star, which made him invincible, and he knocked his youngest half-brother off course, and zoomed ahead of him. At the end of that lap, Shane was cruising way ahead of us, while the rest of us were clamoring for second place and the points that came with it - Mac ended up getting second, about four seconds behind Shane, who easily won that race; we moved on to the next one.  
The next race presented Shane with some new challenges, and he found himself in last after two pretty uneventful laps. While he did get a bullet, which shot him up pretty far, he was still unable to catch the leader, Mac, who ended up barely squeaking out a victory, with Shane not far behind him in third, and Chase in second. The third race of four was one in which the lead flipped back and forth maybe a hundred times between Chase and I, while Shane and Mac struggled in the back, but in the end, Chase pulled out the win, and I was second. Going into the final race, Shane and Mac were tied with 9 points each, and surprisingly, Chase was ahead of them with 10, while I was in dead last with just 5 points, and was eliminated. I let Mikey take over for me for the last race, and he somehow ended up going the wrong way for a lap, and got last place by a long ways. Mac had the lead for all of the first lap, and some of the second, until he got cocky and started to slow down and mess around, and Chase made him pay by zooming up and taking the lead, with Shane on his tail, and eventually going around him. Mac realized his mistake, though, and once he reclaimed the lead in the final lap, he didn’t show off until he had crossed the finish line to win. The standings in the final race reflected the standings of the entire grand prix - Mac won, with 14 points; Shane was second with 12, Chase third with 11, and Mikey and I were last with 6 points, maybe because I had gotten last in two of my three races, maybe because I was the least experienced player, maybe I’m just trying to make excuses…  
After that, Shane powered off the Wii, and Will turned on SportsCenter, and he, Ben, Mikey, and I watched that while Shane and Chase went back to practicing their guitar-playing, and Mac got out his DS again, and played whatever game it was he had started earlier. It wasn’t until about two in the afternoon that Mom and Dad got back, carrying several bags up to their room, and then calling Will out to help them get the tree in the house. It was a tough job, but the tree finally made its way into the living room, and after it was set up, Mom and Dad disappeared to their room, presumably to wrap presents. I went into my room, and started shooting at the beat-up miniature basketball goal I had gotten three years ago; I had asked for a new one for Christmas, and was hoping my parents came through, since I really wanted a new one, and this old one was rather out-of-shape; the plastic backboard was cracked in a couple of places, and the net was barely hanging onto the rim; in addition, the one I had asked for was made out of a stronger material, and would be more durable. Ben came in, and we started taking turns shooting the ball at the poor goal. It was an uneventful afternoon, but regardless one filled with hope - hope that we would have a nice Christmas, and get at least some of the presents we wanted (please note that I said we, so I’m not being selfish, I think), and also that we wouldn’t forget the real reason for the season, which we would be reminded of later that evening.

December 24, 2014 - 5:29 PM - Arlington, TX - Will’s POV

First, around 5:30, we had a simple dinner - hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and strawberries. After we ate, everyone went to their rooms to get dressed for church. I changed into a long-sleeve white button-down shirt and khakis. Chase put on a white long-sleeve shirt and khakis, but he wanted to wear a tie, and I had to help him with that. Shane dressed in a green polo and khakis, and we all went back downstairs together. Everyone else but Graham was already dressed and waiting in the living room. Ben had on a white polo and khaki shorts, Mikey had on a white T-shirt and navy sweatpants, and even Mac had sort of dressed up, and was wearing a long-sleeve white shirt and jeans. A minute or two later, Graham came down, in a blue polo and jeans, and we loaded up the minivan. Mom and Dad sat in the front, Shane and I sat in the second row, Chase and Graham sat in the third row, and Mac, Mikey, and Ben took their seats in the back row. We were lucky it was a nine-seat minivan, and not a typical seven-seat one, as two of us would’ve had to either take another car or sit on the floor if that had been the case. The Christmas Eve service was always good, and this held true for another year, and as we sung “Silent Night” by candlelight, I could just feel that this was going to be a good Christmas for us.  
We went home, and I turned on my laptop, pulled up the NORAD Santa Tracker, and set it up to project on the big TV out in the living room. Dad made some hot cider for us, and I smiled as I watched and listened to the kids talking about and pointing at where Santa was now, and what he would bring us, and what kind of cookies we should leave out for him. That last question compelled me to go and get the small table where we usually put the cookies and milk, and to start working on baking the cookies, since it would only be a few hours until Santa arrived. “So, what’s the final call?” I asked. “Huh?” “What kind of cookies should we give Santa?” “Uh, how ‘bout just plain sugar?” “Okay, that’s easy enough to make,” I said as I set off to making the cookies. After cutting out the cookies, I called the kids over to help decorate them. “Santa will get two of these, and then each of us will get one each,” I said, counting the eleven cookies. Ben frosted a red smiley face onto his. Mikey loaded his up with sprinkles. Shane put three stripes of green frosting, and some green sprinkles, on his cookie. Chase put gold and silver sprinkles on his. Graham drew a basketball with the orange frosting. Mac left his alone, as did I. Mom and Dad both frosted theirs in white, with some multi-colored sprinkles. And for Santa, we left one cookie shaped and colored like a Christmas tree and another normal round cookie, which was not frosted, but had some sprinkles on it. After that, I put the cookie sheet in the oven, and baked them for about 45 minutes, and they came out perfect. I poured a glass of milk, and put it and the two cookies on the table for Santa to eat and drink later. After that, everyone started heading to bed, as it was already about nine o’clock, and we all knew we were going to be up early the next morning. With two bathrooms for seven kids, it took a bit longer than it had used to, but now that Mom and Dad got their own bathroom, and we got to split between two, the whole process certainly took a lot less time than it had in Australia. Shane, Chase, Graham and I took the “Jack and Jill” bathroom that was between our two rooms, while Mikey, Mac, and Ben took the bathroom at the end of the hall upstairs. We decided to go from youngest to oldest, so Chase and Mac got to go first. Chase and Mac both got done around the same time, and they both went down the hall, Chase in his pajamas into my room and Mac in his boxers to the former guest room, since he couldn’t sleep in the living room tonight. Graham and Mikey were next, and Mikey finished first, and walked back to the guest room in his pajamas. Graham didn’t take long either, and he went into his room - the lucky kid got a room all to himself - in his underwear, as usual, and shut the door. Ben and Shane went after them, Ben getting a small advantage because of Mikey’s quickness in and out of the bathroom, and Ben was quicker as well, as he finished a minute or two before Shane, going down to the guest room in his lounge pants, which again showed the waistband, but no more, of his Hanes underwear. Shane went through the bathroom to my room, but did tell me he had finished, and I headed in to take my shower, brush my teeth and get ready for bed. I put on a white T-shirt and red lounge pants, turned off the lights, and went into my room, where Shane had already gotten comfortable on the bottom bunk and Chase had nestled into his sleeping bag. I climbed up to the top bunk, and waited for Mom and Dad to come make the rounds, and as soon as they did so, we all drifted off to sleep.

December 25, 2014 - 4:42 AM - Arlington, TX - Shane’s POV

I was awoken early in the morning by the excited yelling of my youngest half-brothers, Mikey and Mac, but it was okay, since it was Christmas. I stretched and got up, then went into the bathroom. After drinking a glass of water, I felt a lot better, and I was ready to go downstairs and face the overjoyed crowd. “Santa came! He really did!” yelled Mac. “And he brought us lots of presents!” said Mikey. Everyone calmed down a bit after we ate breakfast, but they were clearly excited to open the gifts that they had received. After breakfast, we did a quick prayer, and then we opened our stockings to see what was in them. Everyone had gotten a couple pieces of candy, a couple gift cards, and something else. For example, I got two packs of SweetTarts, which were my favorite candy, $25 gift cards to GameStop and Guitar Center, and a bag of guitar picks. Going around the assembled circle to my right, Ben got some SweetTarts too, a $50 gift card to Academy, and a baseball. Mikey got a bag of Twizzlers, a gift card to Build-a-Bear, and a little stuffed rabbit. Mac got a chocolate bar, a GameStop gift card, and a box of pencils. Graham got a chocolate bar, a gift card to the Mavericks team store, and a pack of basketball cards, which was the Mavs’ team set. Will got no candy, but he did get a $100 gift card to RaceTrac and a $50 iTunes card. Coming back around the circle, Mom and Dad each got a chocolate bar and a couple of scratch-off lottery tickets, and Chase got a York peppermint patty, an iTunes gift card for $25, and some new pencils, like Mac had gotten, in a little box.  
We then went back around the circle to open presents, so I was first. There weren’t a ton of presents, but there were probably two or three for each of us, and just what we got in the stockings was great enough. I got my three presents, and read who they were from before opening them. The first one was from Mom and Dad, and it was the latest edition of Strat-O-Matic Baseball, a board game I had wanted for a long time. The second was from Will, and I opened it and saw the silver cross necklace I had had my eyes on for months. I put it around my neck as I opened the third box, from my parents again, which had another small box inside, which said “iPhone 5S”. “No way,” I said. I opened the box, and sure enough, it was an iPhone 5S, and they had even gotten the gold-colored one that I liked! I went and gave Mom, then Dad, and then Will, hugs, and set my gifts down - I could set up my phone later - to see what everyone else got. Ben opened his two presents from Santa first, which were two boxes of baseball cards. Next, he opened the first box from Mom and Dad. Inside was another box, as well as a necklace. “Cool!” said Ben as he put the red and black titanium necklace around his neck. He opened the smaller box, and found a red iPhone 5C! After opening another box from Mom and Dad, which had a new baseball glove in it, he also gave Mom and Dad a hug, as Mikey went to get his three presents. “This one’s kinda long,” said Mikey as he tore off the wrapping around his first hockey stick! “We decided that we would let you play hockey after all, since you really seemed to want to play,” said Dad. He then opened a baseball glove, and Mom said “We also decided to let you play baseball, and basketball if you still want to do that,” to which his response was “Of course!” His final present was from Santa, and it was a red iPod nano. Mac was next, and he opened his Santa present first, which contained two new games for his 3DS. Next, he opened the present from Mom and Dad, which was a black jacket “to keep him warm in cold months like this.” The final present, from Will, was two pairs of pirate-themed boxers, which Mac really seemed to like. Graham was next, and he got from Will a Mavericks poster. He also got an iPhone 5C from our parents - a blue one for him - and he also got a miniature basketball hoop, and a little basketball that went with it. He seemed to be most thankful for the basketball hoop than the phone, even, which was refreshing, but a little odd. Will got only one present, a brown leather wallet from Mom and Dad. Mom got a box of chocolates from Dad, and a couple DVDs from Will. Dad got a Monopoly board game from Will, and three tickets to five Rangers games from Mom. Finally, Chase opened up from Santa a black skateboard, and from Mom and Dad an acoustic guitar - which exactly matched mine - and a yellow iPhone 5C. “Cool, now I can take up the other hobby I was wanting to try, plus I can really learn from Shane now,” he said. We all thanked Mom and Dad for the gifts, but that wasn’t all. They led us into the game room, where a new air hockey table sat. “Whoa, thanks,” I said, and most, if not all, of us thanked them again. “But that’s not all. We also got a bunch of temporary tattoos, if anyone wants them. There’s all sorts of designs-“ A mad scramble had already ensued as Dad had dropped the sheets of tattoos on the coffee table. Chase ended up with seven sheets of the tattoos, while Mikey and Mac each got two, and Graham got the last one. Ben and I were disappointed that we didn’t get any, but we decided to just let it go and enjoy what we did get. We went over to the air hockey table to play the inaugural game. Dad helped us set up the game by turning on the machine and showing us how to start a new game (you didn’t have to insert coins, just press a button on the side), and I walked to the far side, picked up the paddle, got out the puck, and began the game, which ended in a 4-3 victory for Ben. I shook his hand, then Will asked if he could play me in Strat-O-Matic. I said yes, and got the game out and ready to play. “Oh cool, it has all the current players,” he remarked. He took the Rangers, and I took the Cubs, and we started playing, figuring out how to play simply by, well, playing. I beat him 6-2, but he seemed to have fun, and wanted to play again. The second time, he was in the lead 3-0 in the ninth inning, but I got lucky and Anthony Rizzo hit a walk-off grand slam to win me another game, 4-3.  
After that, I sat down to set up my new iPhone. Later, for dinner, we had ham, rolls, corn, and sweet potatoes. After dinner, we got out the new Monopoly game (our old one had gotten beat up, and a lot of the pieces and money had gone missing) and played our first game, which I won. Will was the last person to go out, and after the game, he looked at me—almost through me—for a second, then asked a question: “Say, whatever happened with you and that girl? Did y’all break up or something?” “Alexa? No, we didn’t break up…we just…haven’t done anything since that one date…other than talking at school…” He got a look on his face as if he thought I was suspicious, but I was being completely honest. “I might ask her on another date soon, though, ‘cause it would be weird if we just had one date in four months,” I added, strategizing on the fly. “Well, yeah, but…okay, so you’re certain you’re still together?” he asked. “Yes!” I insisted. “And let me know when you get a girlfriend,” I taunted, jabbing my right index finger into his chest. Everyone was looking at us now. Will shoved me backwards with both arms, and I fell back, hitting my head against the wall behind me. “F-“

December 25, 2014 - 8:59 PM - Arlington, TX - Will’s POV

“Funk! I swear I said funk!” I pleaded as our family took an unexpected ride to the hospital in the minivan. Like last night, Mom and Dad were up front. But Chase was able to snag a seat in the second row, as Shane’s body—he felt very weak, and was conked out, but was still breathing—lay across my lap. Graham and Ben took seats in the third row, and Mac and Mikey lay asleep in the back—Mikey lay across all three seats, while Mac lay on the floor. They had both been put to bed already; Mikey had his pajamas on, while a tank top and shorts had been put on Mac, who slept in his boxers usually. The rest of us were still in our regular clothes. “Yeah, you sure do swear. Like a sailor…is this how I raised you?” Dad asked me. I’m in deep with this one, I thought. “Okay, fine. What do you want me to say? I did it. I said the F-word. I’m sorry.” “And that’s not all. You hurt Shane. He’s knocked out cold, for Pete’s sake! Right now, we’re focused with getting Shane to the hospital, but once we get him in the right hands, we’ll be coming up with some major punishment,” my dad told me with a stern tone.

We finally pulled into the hospital parking lot. We all went in, me carrying Shane, Dad carrying Mac, and Mom carrying Mikey; Chase went ahead to open doors, while Ben and Graham walked together, talking quietly and following behind us. The hospital was not busy, and Shane got into a room immediately. A small waiting room sat just outside the door to his room, with four benches. The two on the left side of the desk were occupied, but we took the other two, with Mac and Mikey each getting their own benches to sleep on, and the rest of us having to stand. I stood in a corner and buried my head in my hands. What have I done? I asked myself, banging my head against the wall a couple times. After about half an hour, a nurse came out and went over everything with us. “We’re going to need to run a bunch of tests on him, and it is absolutely necessary that we keep him here overnight. You can go home if you live nearby, or check into a local hotel, or just stay here overnight. We have a few cots available if you can’t make any other arrangements.” The family—at least, the members who were still awake; besides Mac and Mikey, Chase had dozed off in a chair and Ben was rubbing his eyes and yawning almost constantly—convened and decided on a plan. We decided that Dad would drive back everyone except for Mom, Chase and I—Mom and Chase were Shane’s only blood relatives, and I wanted to be the first to see Shane when he came to so I could apologize to him. The nurse got three cots out for us, and the rest of the family left. I laughed at the thought of my dad driving a minivan, but my brief joy was drowned out by guilt and remorse for what I had done. Shane’s second head injury, and in less than six months…I said a long prayer, asking that Shane would be healed and that he wouldn’t suffer any major brain damage or anything else that could affect his future, but the guilt still lingered on my heart as I settled onto one of the cots—Chase had taken the middle cot, and was already asleep—and slowly drifted to sleep.


	4. Chapter Three: In Which The Hospital Stay Continues

December 26, 2014 - 2:32 AM - Arlington, TX - Graham’s POV

I was woken up in the middle of the night after hearing a loud thump noise coming from downstairs. I thought it sounded like someone was trying to break down our door, so I carefully stepped out into the hallway and peeked out the tall window through the white blinds. Not seeing anything, and hearing no further evidence of such a noise, I went back into my room, closing the door behind me, and tried to go back to sleep. But as I dozed off, nightmares began to creep into my brain, and I woke up again a few hours later. I went and got a drink, and then tried to flood my mind with positive thoughts, but nothing would stop the nightmares from coming. At breakfast, I told my dad about the dreams I had.

“I dreamt that Will and Shane had gotten in a fight, and Shane had hit his head, and was in the hospital,” I explained. “Well, I wouldn’t call that a nightmare so much as the truth,” my dad replied. “So that all really happened, and I was just living through it again?” “Yep, pretty much,” he said, and I continued eating my Froot Loops and drinking my orange juice. Then what my dad had said hit me. “Wait, what?!? Shane’s in the hospital?” “Uh, yeah, we were just there last night,” my step-brother Ben said. “So…I’m the only one that totally forgot all of this?” My dad nodded, and so did Ben, and Mikey, and Mac, the latter being my other step-brothers. After we all ate and dressed, brushed our teeth, and did anything else needed to be ready, we left in the minivan, headed towards the hospital.

When we got there, my stepmom caught us up on what had happened overnight and that morning. “The doctors let him rest through the night, and then ran another battery of tests and scans on him.” The results of those tests and scans, she explained, were that Shane had fractured his skull, and suffered a concussion; somehow, those were his only apparent injuries—no bleeding, no other injuries—and we were very lucky that Shane had even survived the impact. After she explained this, I felt an incredible itch, and excused myself to go the bathroom and take care of the itch (I needed to pee anyways, so it was like I was killing two bugs with one stone). I came back and nothing had happened; the doctors were waiting to see if Shane’s condition would improve so they could start taking him off some of the tubes that he was being pumped food, water, and air through, but no progress had been made on that front, so I sat down and started reading the book I had just gotten from the library, a book about all sorts of bugs and other creatures. It was awesome.

December 26, 2014 - 10:12 AM - Arlington, TX - Shane’s POV

Whoa. I’m, like, unconscious, but I can totally see and hear everything that’s going on in the room around me. I wonder if I can move? Nope. Oh well, I guess I’ll just stick to observing everything from my bed. Let’s see…Graham’s reading some book about bugs, Mac is pleading with Mom and Dad to let him watch the TV, Mikey is picking his nose, Chase is staring off into space, and Will is doing something on his phone. Maybe he’s looking up my symptoms on WebMD. “Well, with your symptoms, it seems like you could either have: a common cold, a mild concussion, a fever, or a broken leg.” I laughed. The doctor leapt up from his chair, looked at one of the screens that was showing all my vital signs, and shook his head. “This doesn’t even seem possible…”

A few of them gathered around the doctor to see what was going on. “What?” asked Chase. “Well, a minute ago, he was in a comatose state. Now he seems to be returning to consciousness. I thought I even heard him make a noise,” the doctor said. Wait. Did I, Shane’s spirit, just control myself, Shane’s body, into coming out of a coma? Holy cow, that’s awesome! I wonder if I could go back the other way, back into a coma…Better not try that. I don’t want this to be like that If I Stay book where the girl makes everyone worry whether she is or isn’t going to survive. Unlike her, I know exactly which side of the fence I fall on. I want to live.

I woke up. As I came to, I analyzed everyone’s reactions. Will’s astonished yell of “He’s awake!” started a wave of different reactions. Graham put down his book and stood up, but stayed at a distance. Mac completely ignored it, and continued throwing a tantrum because he hadn’t been allowed to watch TV. Mikey licked the booger off his finger, then crab-walked over to my bed for some reason. Chase came over and stared deep into my eyes. Will, of course, yelled, but then he calmed down a bit, apologizing to the doctor. “I’m sorry, it’s just…Shane is like a brother to me, and I know he has a bright future ahead of him. I don’t want to know what the world would be like without him,” he said.

Then I fully came to, and everything became a confusing, jumbled mess.

December 26, 2014 - 10:31 AM - Arlington, TX - Graham’s POV

“How come he gets all this special treatment, huh?” I yelled as Will finished his little speech. “Shane is like a brother to you. Shane has a bright future. Shane this. Shane that. Where are the speeches for me? Where are the speeches for any of us?” I vented. “Uh, maybe because he was out cold, and survived something he maybe shouldn’t have, and recovered really quickly? Maybe because he has a history of head injuries, and therefore his chances of escaping without any bleeding, any long-term issues, anything like that are even more minuscule than they were the first time? Maybe because…” “Alright, alright! Just shut up already!” I snapped. I sat on one of the cots and started flipping back through my bug book to find the page I had been on when I dropped it after Shane woke up. Dad finally decided to take some of us back home, and everyone but Shane, Chase, and Ben (along with my stepmom) loaded up into the minivan and drove back home. We pulled into the garage and Dad turned off the car. He unlocked the door, and I grabbed the box of water bottles—still completely full—that was sitting by the door and sprinted up the stairs to my room, locking the door behind me. I climbed into my bed and started reading again, trying to distract myself, but I couldn’t shake from my mind the hole I had just dug myself. Maybe if I spent some time by myself, I could think of a way out, but for now I just wanted to read and learn about the creatures in the book.

After I finished the book, I looked at the clock hanging on my wall. It was 1:15 in the afternoon, and I was starting to grow hungry, but I refused to give in. I was hoping that either someone would leave some food outside my door or that I could sneak into the kitchen late at night and get some snacks. Sure enough, at about two o’clock, I heard a quiet knock at my door. I waited about thirty seconds, then opened the door, grabbed the plate sitting on the ground, and quickly shut and locked the door again. The plate was loaded with food: a bed of macaroni and cheese, two hot dogs, and a bunch of strawberries. I scribbled a quick thank-you note and dug in.

I finished eating around three o’clock, and finished off a bottle of water to wash it down. A few minutes later, I started feeling like I had to pee. My first instinct was to go to the bathroom between Will’s room and mine, but I didn’t want to take even that risk of running into anyone; I wasn’t prepared to face anyone and own up to my mistakes yet. I instead tried to hold it in as long as possible and to occupy myself by doing something else, but my mind kept wandering and I eventually couldn’t hold it in any longer. Unfortunately for me, I had a ton of dirty laundry piled up, and eventually I would have to give in, as I simply wouldn’t have anything to wear. For now, though, I peed my pants, and when I had finished, I changed out of the now-soiled boxer briefs I had been wearing and into a fresh pair. As I pulled the new underwear on over my thighs, I looked to see how much I had left in my dresser and in my closet, and was disappointed to find only three pairs of underwear, four T-shirts (all plain white shirts, too) and four pairs of basketball shorts. My jeans had also gotten dirty, so I replaced them with one of the pairs of shorts, and then I sat down at my desk to think of a way out of the hole I had dug myself.

But I just couldn’t think up anything, no matter how hard I tried, and eventually I had to come out. I had even stayed in there longer than I originally thought I would and had resorted to putting on clothes from the bottom of the dirty pile. I hadn’t been out of my room for several days. I hadn’t looked at my iPhone the whole time (I had turned it off as soon as I got back to my room), so I was surprised when I turned it on and saw hundreds of text messages and missed calls. Some were from my parents and Will and Shane and, well, the whole family, but some were from my friends. A few were just asking if I wanted to hang out, but I guess someone must’ve told some of them about me, because there were a lot of texts from my friends just asking how I was doing. They really care about me, I thought as tears started to form in my eyes. I chugged the last water bottle I had brought upstairs with me, then I walked out my room and down the stairs for the first time in five days. Oh yeah, it’s New Year’s Eve, I realized as I tried to take the quietest steps I could.

When I got into the living room, everyone was sitting on the couches, watching something on TV. I snuck in behind everyone, grabbed the remote, and turned the TV off. Everyone turned around to see who had done it, and that’s when I snuck around to the front of the room and stood front of the TV. I tried to apologize, but the words just weren’t coming out. “I’m sorry, okay?” I finally blurted out. “I just…I guess I got jealous of how you were getting all this special attention,” I said to Shane, “and I just wasn’t thinking—heat of the moment, you know?—but I truly am sorry.” Shane got up to come give me a hug or something, but I told him not to. “These clothes are pretty gross,” I said. He shrugged and gave me a chest bump.

Just like that, I was back to being a part of the family. But my absence brought everyone else closer to each other, I think, and I felt like I was still sort of an outcast. Since it was New Year’s Eve, though, we all spent a lot of time together waiting for midnight. Of course, not all of us made it. Mac passed out on the couch around 9:15, and Ben and Mikey went to bed just a few minutes later, with Ben promising that he would be back in time to watch the ball drop on TV. We were all tired, anyways, and we kind of all dozed off, although Will set an alarm on his phone to wake us all up at 11:45 in case we hadn’t already woken back up.

December 31, 2014 - 11:49 PM - Arlington, TX - Will’s POV

“Get the champagne—and the champagne—ready!” my dad yelled as I hurried off into the kitchen, pouring two glasses of real champagne, and seven glasses of fake champagne—sparkling grape juice—just in time for our New Year’s celebration. True to his word, Ben had (albeit groggily) come back downstairs, and everyone else had woken up either by themselves or on the sound of my phone’s alarm. Mac had been asleep since 9:15, but he woke up, and Mikey had been unable to fall asleep, even though he went to bed around the same time as Mac, so the whole family was awake and ready to watch the ball drop on TV.

Once I had passed out all the glasses—plastic glasses, that is, for safety—it was almost time to start the countdown. Most of us started counting at ten, but Shane started way ahead of us, counting down from thirty, and Mac didn’t start counting until the countdown was at three. “Three…two…one…Happy New Year!” the nine of us shouted in unison as we tapped our glasses together and drank. Almost immediately, Mikey, Ben, Chase, and Shane trotted upstairs. Mac fell asleep on the couch, and Graham stayed out in the living room trying to stay up the longest, but by the time we had cleaned up everything, Graham was conked out on the couch, and I carried him upstairs and into his bedroom, then went into my own bedroom, quietly climbing up to the top bunk in an attempt not to wake Shane or Chase, and fell asleep. It was about 12:30 in the morning.

I was the first one awake and downstairs. I slept until about 10:30, then managed to sneak into the bathroom, take a shower, and get dressed without waking anyone else up. I tiptoed down the stairs and into the kitchen, where I quietly began preparing breakfast. Eventually, the others started waking up, and as they came downstairs, I made their breakfasts, as I did most mornings. I had decided to make breakfast tacos this morning, which required cooking bacon, sausage, and eggs as well as having tortillas, salsa, cheese, and anything else people might want on theirs.


End file.
